Elliott grabs pole
- Updated: October 12, 2019
NASCAR’s most popular driver turns fast lap of 192.707 to sit on pole for chance for season sweep at Talladega
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
TALLADEGA – Anything can happen at Talladega. It’s one of the few tracks where a driver can win the race regardless where he starts.
But Chase Elliott is feeling pretty good about his prospects for completing a rare season sweep at the track when he won the pole for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 Saturday.
Elliott, the winner of the spring’s GEICO 500, posted a fast lap of 192.707 for his eighth career Monster Energy Cup pole, fourth this season and second at Talladega.
Alex Bowman grabbed the outside pole with a 192.552.
“I feel like our car has pace, which is a good thing,” Elliott said. “Typically in these races cars that have pace tend to kind of set the standard and are able to do some things you wouldn’t be able to do if your car didn’t have pace. So, I would much rather have it on my side than not.
“Can you still win without those little extra things here and there? Yes. But I do think it is a good thing to have if you do and luckily I feel like our car does. Hopefully it drives well tomorrow and I’m sure as we start the race we’ll see some gamesmanship being placed among the manufacturers and I’m sure that will pull them up very quickly.”
A win Sunday would give Elliott a Talladega season sweep his two-time Talladega-winning father Bill Elliott never attained despite his status as one of the greatest superspeedway racers in the sport.
During Talladega’s 50 years there have been seven season sweeps – Pete Hamilton (1970), Buddy Baker (1975), Darrell Waltrip (1982), Dale Earnhardt (1990 and 1999), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2002) and Jeff Gordon (2007).
Elliott credits the April win to avoiding the inevitable wrecks and cooperating with fellow Chevy drivers.
“We made a pretty conscious effort with our manufacturer to try and do a better job of working together,” Elliott said. “It worked at Talladega. Hopefully it works out (again).”
William Byron (192.258) and Jimmie Johnson (191.566) landed on the second row.
1000Bulbs.com 500 Lineup
| Row 1 | Chase Elliott | Alex Bowman |
| Row 2 | William Byron | Jimmie Johnson |
| Row 3 | Aric Almirola | Brad Keselowski |
| Row 4 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Clint Bowyer |
| Row 5 | Ryan Blaney | Joey Logano |
| Row 6 | Erik Jones | Kyle Larson |
| Row 7 | Ryan Newman | Paul Menard |
| Row 8 | Kevin Harvick | Matt Tifft |
| Row 9 | David Ragan | Martin Truex Jr. |
| Row 10 | Daniel Suarez | Austin Dillon |
| Row 11 | Ty Dillon | Michael McDowell |
| Row 12 | Chris Buescher | Kurt Busch |
| Row 13 | Landon Cassill | Kyle Busch |
| Row 14 | Bubba Wallace | Brendan Gaughan |
| Row 15 | Daniel Hemric | Ryan Preece |
| Row 16 | Matt DiBenedetto | Parker Kligerman |
| Row 17 | Corey LaJoie | Ross Chastain |
| Row 18 | Blake Jones | Joey Gase |
| Row 19 | Austin Theriault | Reed Sorenson |
| Row 20 | Spencer Boyd | Denny Hamlin |
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